CHAP. LXXI. 



ArYRA'CEiK. iTY^RAX. 



1 187 



CHAP. LXXI. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDEK .VIVHA'CE^ 



Genus I. 



ATY^liAX L. The Storax. Lin. Sysl: Decdndria Monogynia. 



Iilttitijication. Lin. Gen., No. 595. ; Tourn., t. 369. ; Juss. Gen^ 156. ; Gartn. Fruct., 1. p. 284. t. 59. 



Liiidl. Nat. Syst. Bot., 2d edit., p. 228. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 4. 

 S//noni/mes. Alibocifier, Fr. ; Storax, Gt-r. 

 Derivation. The word stuiax, applied to this plant by Theophrastus and Dioscorides, is a mere 



alteration of assthirak, the Arabic name of S. officinale. 



Gen. Char., Sfc. Calyx permanent, campaniilate, 5-toothed. Corolla niono- 

 petalous, funnel-shaped, deeply 3— 7-cleft, but usually 5- or 6-cleft, valvate 

 in gestivation. Stamens 10, exserted. Filaments monadelphous at the base, 

 adnate to the tube of the corolla. Anthers linear, 2-celled, dehiscing length- 

 wise inwardly. Oranw/H superior, 3-celled, many ovuled, erect. Style}. 

 Stigma obsoletely 3-lobed. Drupe nearly dry, containing a 1-celled, 

 l_3.seeded nut. Testa of seed double ; inner cobwebbed, outer spongy. 

 Embryo inverted, with elliptic cotyledons, and a thick superior radicle. 

 Albumen fleshy. {Don's Mill., iv. p. 4.) — Elegant trees or shrubs, of which 

 27 species are described in Don's Miller, chiefly natives of Asia and South 

 America; but there are four hardy species, natives of Europe or North 

 America, which are cultivated in British gardens. They require a soil 

 rather light than otherwise, on account of their hair-like roots; and to be 

 placed against a wall, in the climate of London, when it is intended that 

 they should flower freely. In affinity, as well as in general appearance, this 

 genus approaches near to that of Halesia ; and there is such a close general 

 resemblance among all the allied species of 5tyrax, that they may pos- 

 sibly be only varieties of one form. The price of plants, in the London nur- 

 series, is from 1^. Gd. to 2s. each. 



s \. S. officina'le L. The officinal Storax. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 6.35. ; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 7.;" Don's Mill., 4. p. 4. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 



Synonumes. Lagomelia, Modern Greek ; Sturax kalamiteS, Ancient Greek. 



En'rravings. Cav. Diss., 6. p. 338. t, 118. f. 2. ; Woodv. Med. not, 197. t. 71. ; Church, et Stev. Med. 



Bot., 1. t. 47. ; Andr. Bot. Rep., 631. ; Lodd. Bot. Cab., 928. ; Plenck Icon., 341. ; Mill., fig. 260. ; 



Lob. Icon., 151. ; N. Du Ham., 7. t. 4. ; and our^g. 1(Xj8. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves ovate, clothed with hoary hairs 

 beneath, shining and green above. Racemes simple and 

 axillary, 3 — 6-flowered, shorter than the leaves. Leaves 

 about 2 inches long. Flowers white. Drupe ovate 

 globose. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 4.) A shrub or low tree, 

 from 12 ft. to 13 ft. high; a native of Syria and the 

 Levant. Introduced in 1397, and producing its flowers, 

 which resemble those of the orange, but are smaller, in 

 June and July. It is naturalised in hedges in some 

 parts of Italy, particularly near Tivoli. It has been 

 known in England since the time of Gerard, who had two 

 small trees of it in his garden, " the which," he says, " I 

 have recovered of the seed." As the plant does not 

 grow very freely, except when placed against a wall, it 

 is not very common in collections, though it well merits 

 a place there, on account of the beauty of its pure white 

 flowers, and the great profusion in which they are pro- 

 duced. The finest specimen in the neighbourhood of London, and perhaps 

 in Britain, is in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, where it is 12 ft. high, against 



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